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The film begins with the following foreword: "At the southernmost point of the United States are the Florida Keys, a string of small islands held together by a concrete causeway. Largest of these remote coral islands is Key Largo." According to a November 6, 1947 Hollywood Reporter news item, some scenes were filmed on location in Key West, FL, although Huston stated in a modern interview that it was shot mostly in the studio. A January 13, 1948 Hollywood Reporter news item reported that director of photography Karl Freund shot a three-minute continuous sequence using two dollies and a new light-weight camera. The shot begins when Humphrey Bogart and Thomas Gomez are in a bathroom and moves through a room into the hallway, down two flights of stairs, through another hallway and onto a porch. A modern source notes that Huston drew on his 1944 war documentary San Pietro when writing the scenes in which "Frank" tells "Nora" and "Temple" about his dead friend. This was Huston's last film for Warner Bros., and the last film that Bogart and Bacall made together. Claire Trevor won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress. Edward G. Robinson and Claire Trevor reprised their roles for a Lux Radio Theatre broadcast on November 28, 1949.